Qualcomm Unveils Limited-Edition Smart Watch

What's This?

By Emily Price2013-09-04 18:00:20 UTC

Smart watches have become a hot topic of discussion over the past year and one more company is now jumping in to the conversation: Qualcomm. The company officially announced its smart watch at its developer conference Wednesday morning.

“The idea was to start a conversation about what wearable tech might be,” Rob Chandhok, president of Qualcomm Interactive Platforms told Mashable while showing off a prototype of the company’s smart watch on Friday.

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"This is what we think it could be like and we think our partners will pick up and do it at mass scale,” he says.

Chandhok is quick to point out that while Qualcomm is going to launch the smart watch, it isn't trying to become a consumer electronics company. The company hopes to sell tens of thousands watch units, rather than hundreds of thousands, and show its partners what could be possible in the wearable space. This would perhaps inspire another company to make its own watch using Qualcomm’s technology on a larger scale.

Nevertheless, as for the watch, it certainly has the ability to be a contender in the smart watch space.

The watch uses a Mirasol display to provide a lit color display that doesn’t use much battery to power. Visible even when it’s not lit, a double tap on the watchband above the display will brighten the screen.

The watch has an astounding three to five days of battery life on a single charge: three days with heavy use and closer to five used moderately. Charging is done wirelessly using Qualcomm's Wi Power LE technology by placing the watch on the charging pedestal. A side portion of the pedestal can be used to charge the watch’s wireless stereo Bluetooth headset simultaneously. When traveling, the charging station folds up into a case.

The watch is controlled by swiping across the screen. Chandhok says the company put a lot of thought into what types of notifications are shown on the screen and how — information is displayed in a card in a Google Glass-like format.

When testing the watch out, the team found that some information is more important, depending on who you are. Chandhok's calendar, for instance, is one of the most important notifications he sees in a day, so Qualcomm incorporated calendar entries into one of the watch faces.

Out of the box, Toq has support for standard features like music control, text messaging, weather, stocks calendar and email. While you can’t input a response to messages on the watch, you can pre-set a few responses such as “Thanks!” or “I’m on my way!” to respond with if the need arises. The application menu is brought up by tapping on the watch band below the screen.

Developers will be able to tap into Qualcomm’s AllJoyn framework to send program notifications through the smart watch, and the watch works with Android notifications. That means anything you currently get a push notification for on your Android phone, you can also get a notification for on Toq. With AllJoyn the watch could potentially give you control of something like your air conditioner when you enter your home.

The watch also has a built-in accelerometer and microphone that aren't currently being used but could later be activated for things like fitness apps and voice commands. The headsets ultimately could also be used to whisper something in your ear, like a news headline or something like "you're going to be late for your next meeting." Qualcomm feels that that type of whisper notification might be less intrusive than similar functionality on products like Glass.

I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time with Toq, and was perhaps most impressed with the design of the device. The watch is customized to fit your specific wrist size (you cut the band out of the box), which means you're able to snap it on snugly without any extra strap hanging down. Exceptionally sleek, Qualcomm was able to keep the watch face thin by putting the battery for the device on the reverse of your wrist. It's a simple design decision, but one that will make a dramatic difference when it comes to accidentally brushing your watch up against things.

“It’s a platform that we want to both experiment with what wearable computing can be and where we want to experiment with what always on displays do to change these experiences,” says Chandhok.

Toq will be available in Q4 of 2013. Pricing has yet to be determined.

What do you think of Toq? What features would you like to see in a smart watch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Images: Mashable, Emily Price; Qualcomm

Topics: Mobile, qualcomm, smart watch, smartwatch, Tech, Toq